Research and Debate in Primary Geography

This book brings together recent papers which make important contributions to understanding and developing primary geography. It considers primary teachers? and trainee teachers? knowledge of geography; how the primary curriculum uses geography; teachers? planning of geography teaching; the way in which aspects of geography are taught; what high quality geography might look like; and children?s geographical understanding and voices.

Though geography curricula change quite often in countries around the world, the core matters noted above remain of constant and vital importance. The papers in this book either concern research with primary teachers and children, or consider key concerns in primary geography, providing important perspectives for thinking about future developments in geography teaching and curriculum initiatives in primary schools. This is a stimulating and enticing collection written by leading exponents of, and experts in, primary geography education. This book was originally published as a special issue of Education 3-13.

1. Introduction: Thinking about primary geography 2. Enquiring into primary teachers’ geographical knowledge3. English primary trainee teachers’ perceptions of geography 4. Contesting powerful knowledge: the primary geography curriculum as an articulation between academic and children’s (ethno-) geographies5. Ethnogeography: towards liberatory geography education 6. More than just core knowledge? A framework for effective and high-quality primary geography 7. Geography and creativity: developing joyful and imaginative learners 8. Subject-based and cross-curricular approaches within the revised primary curriculum in Northern Ireland: teachers’ concerns and preferred approaches9. Teachers’ perspectives on curriculum making in Primary Geography in England10. Children researching their urban environment: developing a methodology11. My Place: Exploring children’s place-related identities through reading and writing12. Same old story: the problem of object-based thinking as a basis for teaching distant places13. ‘They are like us’ – teaching about Europe through the eyes of children14. Giving younger children voice in primary geography: empowering pedagogy – a personal perspective

Simon Catling taught in London primary schools before moving to Oxford Brookes University in the 1980s, serving as Dean and Assistant Dean in the 1990s and 2000s. He is a Past-President of the Geographical Association, author of Mapstart and Teaching Primary Geography (with Tessa Willy).